#historian rants

[brasskingfisher]

Honestly, sometimes I think the worst part of being a historian is the ability to see how much of modern society's problems are due to the cultural hegemony of the US...

I mean a lot of it simply boils down to the way that the US has defined itself in opposition to elsewhere in the world. Even in the early days, there was competition of ideas of: 'this is what they do in Europe. Therefore WE shouldn't do that/ should do it differently.' However, it really came to a head in the cold war with the US defining itself (and by extension the rest of the 1st world) as everything the Soviet Union wasn't (capitalism vs communism, free markets vs govt. control, the individual vs the collective, judeo-christianity vs atheism etc.).

Whilst this has had some advantages, it's also introduced a lot more complications in terms of supressing national and regional cultures, and the idea that hegemony is good (provided it's OUR hegemony). And it's most apparent in this 'us' and 'them' binary that has stagnated a lot of progressive ideas and perpetuated division.

[bethisblogging]

Ah yes, she studies colonial American history. That’s why she tweets at 2:55 am about John Smith and what a fucker he was

[durenjtmusings]

SPN Prop FAIL - Calipers

Ok, I gotta talk about this because it is making me crazy, and it is not the first time I’ve seen these stupid calipers and thought this.

In reference to this post involving @chiisana-sukima @rosewhipped22  screencap below stolen from @rosewhipped22)

Those heart-shaped calipers? They have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with NAVIGATION and should not even BE on a map table. They are for measuring the external size of objects.  The long straight ones, YES, are used for marking out locations (called divider calipers or what we think of as a compass) and have a long history of being used with maps.

Those other calipers are a total prop fail by someone at SPN. Or, as is pointed out by @chiisana-sukima, are there for only to make a point via subtext - because they sure as hell aren’t using them with that map (or those books and papers).

More about calipers than you  wanted to know.

[marloviandevil]

The Dark Ages. THE DARK WHAT???

The Dark Ages got to be called that because: Antiquity was dying, Christianity had not yet pervaded everything else and was not as strong as in Later Middle Ages, and Renaissance had yet to show its face. The term Dark Ages pisses me off. As a medievalist (okay, my expertise is 14th-century), I can tell you that while Europe (which did not exist as a concept until the 20th century) was not as advanced as others civilisations, it was by no means backward. But because it was marked by transitions on so many levels, it is considered vastly unstable. And obviously not as civilised as the Antiquity would later be considered as. It was not Dark. It was not backward or lawless or so absolutely awful. (I do have a beef with how Christianity spread, and how basically anything that could not be syncretised was meant to obviously die out.) But it is darker because of lack of sources. And biased sources. (Hey there Lindisfarne!) Not saying Vikings were adorable cupcakes, but well, honestly? Monasteries were easy. And! They saved all documents from Antiquity that they could find. They copied everything. EVERYTHING! We owe the "Dark Ages" and the "Middle Ages" the actual ground for Renaissance. So yeah. I have a problem with that expression. Also... Life expectancy. Throughout the Middle Ages, things shifted but! People didn't die at 30. They got married around that age - usually late twenties. And yes, life was hard, but people didn't drop like flies as soon as they turned 35. For the last time. The Dark Ages are mostly called that because: - Lazy Historians from earlier - Historiams who thought that between Antiquity and Renaissance, there was nothing - We portray it as bleak, muddy, AND IT WAS NOT

[lamelavellan]

People in the South are acting like we aren’t so full of Civil War history that they sell antique bits from it for cheap at flea markets. Like, guys we can spare some of that crap. I promise no one has forgotten how hideously racist we have been/are. Nor will they. Now please take down that hideous statue of General E. Lee he denounced the damn war after it ended. Like refused to be buried in his uniform wanted no part of that. Still a gross murderer but at least he had some shame. Damn.